PutinTrump
© AP/SalonRussian President Putin • US President Trump
The structure of the US political system does not allow President Donald Trump to implement many things, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.

"We see that the nature of the system makes it impossible to do many things that he would like to do. Although, of course, much depends on the political will," Putin said on the air of Russia's NTV broadcaster.

At the same time, Putin expressed confidence that Trump was making decisions on his own.

The United States has been toughening sanctions against Russia and introducing new ones, which followed accusations of Russia's alleged cyberattacks and meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump has repeatedly said that he would like the US-Russia relations to be normalised and expressed intention to develop cooperation in various spheres of mutual interests. The bilateral relations are in particular exacerbated by numerous anti-Russian initiatives and legislative acts by the US Congress, where the leverage of the US president is limited.